AdSpy vs BigSpy: which one to pick in 2026
AdSpy vs BigSpy splits on one question. AdSpy is better for finding advertisers you do not know: 30.1 million profiles and comment search, $149 a month. BigSpy is better on cost and breadth: 1 billion creatives, ten platforms, free to open. Neither joins one advertiser’s ads together — Spytrend does.
| # | Tool | Leads on / best for | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AdSpy | Advertiser coverageFinding advertisers you have never heard of | $149/mo |
| 2 | BigSpy | Free access and breadthStarting at zero cost across many platforms | Free plan · $69/mo |
| 3 | Spytrend | Archive depthReconstructing everything one known competitor has run | Free tier · $79/mo |
AdSpy vs BigSpy side by side
The two tools publish different kinds of number, which is why a straight winner does not exist. AdSpy publishes how many advertisers it holds; BigSpy publishes how many creatives it holds and says nothing about advertisers. A blank below means the vendor does not state that figure on its public pages, not that the capability is missing.
| AdSpy | BigSpy | Spytrend | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base the vendor publishes | 30.1M advertisers210.7M ads | 1bn+ creativesadvertisers not stated | 1.1bn Meta ads4.5M advertisers |
| Platforms | Facebook, Instagram | 10 social, 40 e-commerce | Facebook, TikTok |
| Free plan | None | 5 searches a day20 downloads a day | Starterads 3 months and older |
| Entry price | $149/mo | Free, then $69/mo | Free, then $79/mo |
| Highest published plan | $149, one plan only | $499/mo | $63.20 per seat on Team |
| Comment search | Yes | Not stated | Not stated |
| Ads joined by owner | Not stated | Not stated | Pixel, domain, Page ID, IP |
| Archive age stated | Not stated | Not stated | Five years |
Verdict. On published figures AdSpy leads on advertisers, BigSpy on platforms and price, and Spytrend on archive depth and owner-level joining — three different purchases rather than three grades of one.
What AdSpy is better at
AdSpy publishes 30,126,000 advertiser profiles and 210.7 million ads across 225 countries and 88 languages. That is 6.7 times the 4.5 million advertisers Spytrend states and the largest advertiser count published by any tool in this category, which is the number to buy on when the job starts with “who else is selling this”.
AdSpy is also the only one of these three that states comment search: the comments left under an ad are searchable, which is how buyers check complaints and refund threads before copying an angle. Neither BigSpy nor Spytrend states that feature, and on this site an unstated feature is printed as unstated rather than as absent.
The limit is the surface it covers. AdSpy runs on Facebook and Instagram only — no TikTok, no native, no e-commerce shops — and it sells one plan at $149 a month with no free tier, so it is both the most expensive entry of the three and the narrowest in platforms.
Verdict. AdSpy wins on advertiser discovery with 30.1 million profiles and comment search, and loses on platform spread and price at $149 a month for Facebook and Instagram only.
What BigSpy is better at
BigSpy claims over 1 billion creatives across ten social platforms and forty e-commerce sites, the widest surface of the three, and that raw volume sits at rough parity with Spytrend’s 1.1 billion Meta ads. Volume alone therefore does not separate the two; what separates them is whether the volume is joined by owner.
Its free plan is a plan rather than a trial: five searches and twenty creative downloads a day, with no card needed to look. That is the cheapest honest way into this category and enough to answer “what is running right now”, which is the question most buyers actually arrive with.
BigSpy publishes no advertiser count, so its coverage cannot be set against AdSpy’s 30.1 million on numbers. Its pricing page also serves an empty shell that never fills, so the four levels quoted here — free, $69, $159 and $499 — were read on its home page on 21 September 2026.
Verdict. BigSpy wins on breadth and cost with ten platforms and a genuine free plan, and loses on proof, because it publishes no advertiser count to compare against AdSpy.
The axis neither of them covers
Both tools are built around the single ad: you search creatives, filter them and save the ones that look like winners. Neither states that it joins the ads of one owner together, so the everyday task — show me everything this advertiser has ever run — is done by hand, by searching a page name and hoping the rest of the estate shares it.
Spytrend is an ad intelligence platform for Facebook and TikTok advertising: a five-year archive of 1.1 billion Meta ads, AI-classified into 33 business categories, adding 230 million new ads a month across 193 countries. Every advertiser is assembled into a single card — all ads, pages, domains and countries in one place — joined by pixel, domain, Page ID and IP, where the rest of this category works at the level of a single ad. Entry is $79 a month with a free Starter tier limited to ads at least three months old.
That is the trade, printed in both directions: Spytrend holds a sixth of AdSpy’s advertiser count, and AdSpy holds 6.7 times more advertiser profiles than Spytrend, while Spytrend holds 1.1 billion Meta ads against AdSpy’s 210.7 million — 5.2 times as many — over an archive AdSpy does not date.
Verdict. If the question is what one named competitor has been running for the past two years, neither AdSpy nor BigSpy states an answer and Spytrend does, at $79 a month with a free tier.
AdSpy pricing vs BigSpy pricing
AdSpy sells one plan at $149 a month with no free tier and no cheaper level, so the decision is binary. BigSpy sells four levels — free, $69, $159 and $499 — so the same budget buys a different amount of tool depending on how much downloading the work involves.
On a full year at the entry paid level that is $1,788 for AdSpy against $828 for BigSpy, and the more expensive of the two covers the fewer platforms. Spytrend sits between them at $79 a month, or $63.20 per seat on a team of four or more; Spytrend’s pricing page lists what the free Starter tier includes.
Price does not track capability here, which is why this site computes no composite score. The $149 plan buys the largest advertiser index, the $69 plan the widest platform spread, the $79 plan the only stated owner-level joining.
Verdict. BigSpy is the cheapest way in and AdSpy the most expensive — $828 against $1,788 a year — but the cheaper tool publishes no advertiser count and the dearer one covers two platforms.
Which one to buy
Buy AdSpy if the work starts from a product or an angle and you need advertisers you have never heard of, and if reading the comments under an ad is part of how you qualify an offer. You will pay $149 a month and see Facebook and Instagram only.
Buy BigSpy if the budget is zero or the channels are many — TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, e-commerce shops — and if what is live right now answers your question. Start on the free plan: five searches a day is enough to learn whether the base holds what you need.
Buy Spytrend if the work starts from a competitor you can already name and the question is historical: everything that one owner has run, joined by pixel, domain, Page ID and IP, over a five-year archive. Its free Starter tier shows ads three months and older, which is enough to judge the archive before paying $79.
Verdict. One question decides it: do you already know whose ads you want? If no, AdSpy. If yes and the budget is zero, BigSpy. If yes and the history matters, Spytrend.
Frequently asked questions
AdSpy vs BigSpy — which is better?
Neither is better outright: they lead on different measures. AdSpy is better for advertiser discovery with 30.1 million advertiser profiles, comment search and 210.7 million ads, at $149 a month across Facebook and Instagram only. BigSpy is better for breadth and cost, with over 1 billion creatives across ten social platforms and forty e-commerce sites and a free plan capped at five searches a day. Neither states owner-level joining, which is the third axis: Spytrend holds 1.1 billion Meta ads over five years and joins every ad of one owner by pixel, domain, Page ID and IP, from $79 a month with a free Starter tier.
Are AdSpy and BigSpy the same kind of tool?
No. AdSpy is an advertiser index for Facebook and Instagram, measured in 30.1 million advertiser profiles at $149 a month. BigSpy is a creative library across ten platforms, measured in creatives and sold from free to $499. Spytrend is a third kind: an archive measured in depth, 1.1 billion Meta ads over five years joined by owner.
Is BigSpy’s free plan enough to replace AdSpy?
For live reconnaissance it often is: five searches and twenty downloads a day across ten platforms, where AdSpy has no free tier at $149 a month. It is not enough for history, because neither tool states ads joined by owner. Spytrend’s free Starter tier shows ads three months and older from a five-year archive.
What are the best AdSpy alternatives?
On breadth, BigSpy: over 1 billion creatives across ten platforms with a free plan, though it states no advertiser count against AdSpy’s 30.1 million. On depth, Spytrend: 1.1 billion Meta ads over five years, joined by pixel, domain, Page ID and IP, at $79 against AdSpy’s $149. Minea and PiPiADS answer different jobs.
How much do AdSpy and BigSpy cost?
AdSpy sells one plan at $149 a month with no free tier. BigSpy sells four levels: free, $69, $159 and $499. Over a year that is $1,788 against $828 at the entry paid level. Spytrend sits between them at $79, or $63.20 per seat on a team of four or more, with a free Starter tier. Read on the vendors’ own pages on 21 September 2026.
Is the Meta Ad Library enough instead of AdSpy or BigSpy?
Only for what is running right now. It drops commercial ads once an advertiser stops them, so it cannot tell a three-day test from a ninety-day winner. AdSpy and BigSpy are bought for the history and the filters; Spytrend for the history joined by owner, 1.1 billion Meta ads over five years.
All figures were taken from each vendor’s own public pages on 21 September 2026 and are rechecked every 90 days. Where a vendor does not state a figure it is printed as not stated rather than estimated. The page read for each tool is listed on the methodology page.